Finders Keepers Losers Die

by Carolyn Scott

  Before I could take another shot, he stood and lifted me roughly by my arms. He shook me and squeezed. Pain shot to my fingertips. I didn't want to cry out, didn't want to show weakness, but I think a small sound escaped because his grip suddenly loosened.

  "Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my office?"

  Oh. Shit.

  Will.

  Maybe if I pretended to be someone else, he'd let me go before he turned the light on and—

  He shook me again. "Well?"

  "It's only me," I squeaked.

  He let go like I was a piece of hot coal. "Cat?" His shadow moved away then the light came on. He stood at the switch near the hallway.

  I waved at him. "Hi."

  He stared. And stared. Then he pressed his fingers into his eyes. When he withdrew them, he stared some more. "Cat! What the fuck are you doing here?"

  "Hello to you too."

  The disbelief on his face was replaced with seething, vein-popping anger. He looked like he'd explode. "Enough with the cute talk," he ground out through clenched teeth. "Just answer me."

  When Will got angry, I couldn't help fueling the flames. Think of me as a self-appointed ego-buster. The way I see it, he shouldn't be allowed to get away with the he-man attitude. Someone had to stand up to him—why not me?

  Then again, I could just be a masochist. Arguing with Will gave me a rush, sort of like little tingles scuttling across my skin. Maybe it was all the extra adrenalin produced by the fight. It was kind of…exciting.

  "A little grumpy tonight aren't we?" I asked.

  "You break into my office, tackle me, and punch me in the face. What do you fucking expect? A welcoming party?"

  "I did not break in. I have a key. And I thought you were a burglar."

  "And what made you think you could take a burglar on by yourself?"

  "I did okay considering the size difference."

  He rubbed his jaw where my punch had connected. "Yeah, you did okay. But you still haven't answered my question."

  "I would if you gave me half a chance and stopped acting like an ogre."

  "I'm not acting. And stop avoiding the question. I won't give up that easily so you might as well just tell me what you're doing here."

  "I'm not avoiding the question, I'm merely trying to calm you down so I can explain—"

  "I AM FUCKING CALM!"

  Wow, those veins could pop any minute. I took a step back just in case. "You know, you swear a lot."

  "Yeah? Well, you bring the worst out in me."

  "You mean you're only an overbearing, mean bully with an attitude problem around me?"

  His brow creased. "Is that how you see me?"

  "Not just me."

  Will ran both his hands through his hair. "Christ, Cat, I…" He sat heavily on the couch arm, shaking his head. After a moment, he looked up at me. The furrow deepened across his forehead. "You're doing it again. And you nearly got me that time."

  "What?"

  "Avoiding the question. Look, Cat, I won't get mad. If you've come to collect something you left behind, you should have asked. I could have arranged to be out of the office and Carl—"

  "That's not why I'm here."

  His dark eyes locked with mine and I think something suddenly clicked. "Cat, what's up? What's happened?"

  I sat on the couch next to him and pulled the blanket across my lap, suddenly wanting to cover my bare legs.

  "Why's there a blanket out here? I don't remember…" He paused. "Were you sleeping on the couch?"

  I nodded. "My place burned down."

  "WHAT?"

  I gave him the details including the part about someone breaking in and deliberately setting my bedroom alight. He listened, the deepening frown the only outward sign of concern.

  "Did you lose much?" he asked.

  "Clothes mainly." I sighed. "And my autograph book." I swiped at a tear.

  "I'm sorry. It must have been important to you."

  I nodded. "Every star I ever worked with wrote in it. It means more to me than all the clothes and shoes."

  "That much?"

  "So anyway, I needed somewhere to stay so I came here."

  "What about your mother's? Or Gina's place?"

  "I didn't want to endanger her," I said. "Or Gina," I added, unable to look at him. He must have come straight from her place to the office.

  "Good thinking," he muttered. "Well, you can't stay here." He stood.

  "Oh. Right. Sorry." And here I thought we'd just connected. Sort of. I wasn't sure whether to play the innocent, vulnerable female and beg to stay or just leave. I didn't feel like arguing with him anymore.

  "Follow me in your car," he said. "You know where I live, don't you?"

  "Huh? Yeah, I think, but…" I shook my head vigorously. "Will! I can't!"

  His hand hovered over the light switch. "I have a spare room, if that's the problem. Don't worry. You may not believe me, but I can be a perfect gentleman." He paused. "If I have to be."

  "No, that's not it. I mean, I'm sure you can be a gentleman, although you haven't always been very gentlemanly here at the office, but I've seen evidence of it tonight, so there's hope—"

  "Cat. Christ, you can talk," he muttered. "What's the problem?"

  "Gina."

  "Gina?"

  "Gina. You know, the girl you've just spent half the night with." He stared back at me, so I went on. "Gina, my best friend, your girlfriend. Remember her?"

  His eyes widened then he threw his head back and laughed. When he finished, he straightened and turned the light switch out. He came to me, took me by the arm and steered me toward the door.

  "Cat, that's the funniest thing I've heard in ages. Me and Gina?" He opened the door, still chuckling. The street light caught the gleam in his eye. "Gina and I wouldn't last a week. No, not even a day. She'd drive me nuts. And I'm sure she finds me less than fun to be around."

  He locked the office door and walked me to my car.

  I shook my head, confused. "But, tonight? You were at her place…"

  "No. I was working from home. I'd forgotten a file so I came here to get it." He shrugged and glanced back at the locked office. "I'll get it tomorrow."

  "Let me get this straight. You and Gina aren't an item? But she said…" What did she say exactly? I tried to recall our conversations but couldn't. Blame the cocktails. "Never mind." It didn't seem important anymore anyway.

  "Unlock your car and get inside," Will said. "This isn't a neighborhood you want to parade around at night wearing nothing but a see-through shirt."

  Ha! So he was human after all.

  And my shirt was see-through?

  ***

  I followed Will the short distance to his place. I'd been there once before to drop off some files when he'd broken his big toe. He lived in a narrow two-story house painted cream with dark green trimmings in a quiet, suburban street. Other homes had bicycles and toys strewn across the front yard but his had a few tangled rose bushes and a squeaky gate.

  Inside, the house had been completely renovated. Polished, hardwood floors throughout, a modern black and white kitchen opening onto a comfortable living room with minimum furniture—a TV, two-seater couch, single armchair, coffee table and waist-height bookshelves crammed with, wait for it, detective novels. A fruit bowl containing one black banana and a shriveled apple sat on the small round table tucked into the corner near the breakfast bar. Beyond the living room was a stairway.

  Looking around, anyone would think Will was a neat freak. Which didn't add up because the office was utter chaos. Apart from the decaying fruit, there were no signs that anyone lived there.

  "Do you have a housekeeper?" I asked.

  "No, why?"

  "Just asking."

  He followed my gaze. "I don't spend much time here. When I'm home, I'm either asleep or in the spare bedroom working."

  "Working? You've got to get a life, Will."

  "Tell me about it," he muttered. We headed up the stairs
and stopped at an open door. "The spare bedroom is yours for as long as you want it."

  "Just tonight," I said quickly. Tomorrow I could stay with Gina since she and Will weren't doing the wild thing. Hopefully my presence wouldn't cramp her style with whoever she was doing.

  "Right. Sorry it's a bit messy."

  I take it all back. Will was a pig. The spare room looked like the storeroom at the office. Boxes, files, papers, and equipment were strewn across the desk, the single bed, the floor. A pile of books threatened to topple over in a corner and a stained mug took pride of place on top of a stack of paperwork on the desk.

  He cleared off the bed. "The sheets are clean. The bathroom's across the hall, towels are in the cupboard beneath the sink. Anything else I can get you? Do you want a night cap?"

  I was about to say no but changed my mind. Alcohol seemed like a good way to obliterate a crappy day.

  We returned to the kitchen and he poured two whiskies. We sat on stools at the breakfast bar and sipped in awkward silence. Maybe I should have bypassed the nightcap and gone straight to bed. Awkward silences made me nervous.

  "Cat, are you okay? Did I hurt you before?" He indicated my arms where he'd grabbed me.

  I undid the top button on my shirt and shrugged one shoulder out. No bruises. "I'm fine," I said, re-buttoning.

  Will stared at my shoulder. "Right. Good. Glad to hear it."

  Boy, talk about awkward. It felt weird him being nice to me. It just seemed…wrong, like the world had been turned upside down and everything was in reverse. It threw me into a spin and I didn't know how to react. Maybe I should pick another fight…

  "I think I better loan you some clothes," Will said, studying the contents of his glass.

  I looked down at my legs. The shirt had ridden up, exposing my upper thighs. I tried to pull it down but it didn't work. I tugged harder but the fabric wouldn't stretch.

  "Fucking shirt," I said, sounding a teensy bit irrational. "It's the only piece of clothing I own. I haven't even got shoes and my feet are filthy. And someone wants me dead and I haven't got a job and—"

  "You can have your job back."

  Poor Will. Men hate when women go into a no-holds-barred hysterical meltdown. Probably he was hoping to head mine off at the pass.

  "You're not firing me?"

  "I didn't fire you. You quit."

  "No, you fired me."

  He eased out an exasperated sigh. "Just take your damn job back."

  "Do I get a raise?"

  "No!"

  "What about a new job description? Assistant detective? You could teach me. Properly this time, not empty promises."

  He placed his glass deliberately on the bench and leaned closer. "I never give empty promises."

  Jeez, can you believe the nerve of that guy? "Are you calling me a liar?"

  "If the shoe fits." He placed his glass on the bench, sloshing liquid over the sides.

  I thumped mine down too, but the effect got lost because it was empty. "I don't believe this! Actually, I do." I poked my finger at his chest. "You know, you're a real bastard, Will." The familiar adrenalin surge I always got when arguing with Will gathered momentum. Blood pumped around my body and to my heart, vacating my head, leaving it light and empty.

  He caught my finger and closed it in his fist. "And you are the most frustrating," he leaned closer, "irritating," and closer again, "and irrational woman I've ever met. If you put half the effort into working that you put into thinking up excuses, you'd be one hell of an employee."

  Our faces were inches apart. He still held my finger and to keep his balance, his other hand rested on the stool beside my thigh. Heat leapt off his skin and the smell of his aftershave didn't help to clear my light-headedness.

  Damned alcohol. Maybe I should lay off the stuff. It seemed to be getting me into a lot of trouble lately.

  "Maybe if you weren't so mean and grumpy, I wouldn't need to make excuses," I said.

  "Oh, so now your laziness is my fault?" His eyes turned velvet black when he was angry.

  "I'm not lazy," I said without much venom.

  Wow, he looked sexy all of a sudden with his hair falling across his forehead and his cheeks flushed. His fingers brushed against my thigh and, God help me, I was gone. Sucked in by his force field.

  "Prove it," he challenged.

  I took the hand caressing my leg and moved it further inside. Then I closed the gap between us and kissed him.

  CHAPTER 8

  The kiss wasn't soft or sensual or any of the things first kisses are supposed to be. He bit my lip and I bit his right back. Our tongues parried, our fingers ripped at clothes and dug into bare skin. It was rough, aggressive, uninhibited.

  Exactly what I wanted.

  I slid off the stool and Will caught my hips, pressing me to him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he carried me to the stairs, our lips still locked in battle. My foot bashed into a lamp, sending it crashing to the floor, but we didn't lose momentum.

  Upstairs, he threw me onto his bed and tore off my shirt. Buttons shot across the room like bullets. "I've been wanting do that since I first saw you tonight."

  I quickly unbuckled his belt and unzipped the fly on his jeans. "You did?"

  "Couldn't you see it in my face?"

  "I thought that was shock."

  He yanked his T-shirt over his head, ruffling his hair into a sexy mess. "It was. I was shocked by your semi-nakedness. Cat, your legs are amazing." He plunged and licked my left thigh up to my…oh, boy.

  He whisked my panties down my legs and threw them into the corner. My bra followed. A brief pause interrupted the frenzy as we assessed each other. From where I lay, completely naked under him, there was a lot to admire. Shaped like a perfect V, he was broad and muscular across the chest and shoulders, his stomach ridged.

  Who'd have thought a body like that was under my nose all this time? I wanted to see more.

  "I feel a little disadvantaged here," I said. "Take your jeans off."

  One corner of his mouth lifted. He stood and took off his jeans and shorts.

  I wasn't disappointed. Nuh-uh. He had powerful thighs, long legs and standing to attention was the most impressive cock I had ever laid eyes on. And I'd seen a few, including two of Hollywood's finest.

  "Get over here and ravish me."

  He didn't need prompting again. He straddled me and we kissed. The ferocity wasn't the same but it was still deep and urgent like he couldn't get enough. He wasn't the only one. I wanted his mouth everywhere.

  As if he'd read my mind, he delved down, kissing my shoulder, my throat, then taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking.

  He headed further south and a sigh escaped. "Yessssss. There, there."

  He wound me up until I was so tightly sprung that my body unraveled spectacularly. My skin tingled, nerve endings reached for his touch.

  "Now! Oh, now!" I exploded into a million pieces. My hips thrust up to meet him and I grabbed a hold of the sheets, bunching them into sweaty balls.

  When it was all over, he surfaced with a wicked smile that said, "Gotcha."

  "Wow," I murmured. "That was…" My head flopped back onto the bed and I couldn't form the right words to describe what had just happened. I mean, I'd had orgasms before, some of them pretty good, but compared to that one, they were poor imitations.

  I decided not to tell Will. From the smile, I didn't think his ego needed to know that he was The Master.

  "You're vocal," he said. "I should've guessed." He kissed me so I couldn't respond.

  Then he reached to the nightstand and fetched a condom out of the top drawer. I did the honors, enjoying the feel of him in my palm. His cock was long and thick and his balls heavy. He groaned when I bent to suck them. He groaned even more when I withdrew.

  "Got to leave something for next time," I said.

  "I always knew you were a hard woman," he breathed.

  "Speaking of hard…" I took his cock gently and guided him to lay down. I
climbed on top.

  "How did I know this would be your favorite position?" he said.

  "You don't like it?"

  "Oh, I like it." He sucked air through his teeth as the tip of his cock touched me. But he caught my hips and stopped me from descending further. "Cat, for reasons beyond my control," he said in a rasping voice, "this isn't going to be my best work."

  "Next time."

  With a long grunt and a quick thrust, he was inside.

  Oh!

  Our bodies moved rhythmically, sensually, but not for long. Will picked up the pace. With his hands roaming across my skin like he owned my body, I was in sensory heaven. He cupped my breasts, teased the nipples with his thumbs, sending sparks shooting to my groin. I leaned forward, wanting his moist lips to suck me, eat me, have me. He took a nipple into his mouth and I…Ohhhhh!

  My moans increased in time to his pumping hips. He screwed up his eyes and a line of sweat formed at his temple. He swelled inside me then with a loud but controlled grunt, he climaxed.

  Afterward, we lay spooned together. I felt immensely satisfied and sort of dumb. My brain didn't seem to work properly. All I could think was thank God I hadn't kneed him in the groin earlier. Sex might have been a bit of a disappointment otherwise.

  Finally, exhaustion took over and I fell asleep with his arms wrapped around me.

  ***

  I awoke with Will's arm across my body and his morning glory pressed into my lower back. I snuggled against him and he responded with a gentle squeeze, but otherwise didn't stir.

  About two seconds later, my brain woke up and I froze. What the hell was I doing? More to the point, what had I done?

  He was my boss. My boss! The inevitable weirdness at the office would be unbearable.

  Maybe I should quit. Again.

  I eased myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Another scare greeted me when I looked in the mirror. Apparently smoke, stress, and wild sex caused bad hair days. I could hatch pigeons up there. Worse still, under the mess, my face looked like crap. The lines around my eyes were more like crevices and I had bags. Bags!

  After a shower, I wrapped a towel around my body and tied my damp hair into a tight knot. It would dry like that but I didn't think Will had a hair dryer lying around. Unless Tanya had left one behind.